Fig 2.

Visual analogies of failed object formation. Left: the general similarity of the features and elements of the image make it difficult to segregate words, so viewers are likely to perceive the mixture as a connected mass that fails to represent any of the individual words. When this occurs, it takes extra time and cognitive effort to understand the words. Middle: when color is used to differentiate the letters, like-colored letters tend to group; however, if the letters making up the target word fail to group together and the target is not perceived as one unified object (direct attention to the middle of the image), analyzing the target word still requires extra effort. Right; understanding is clear when the letters making up each word group together and each word forms automatically, resulting in an enhanced ability to selectively attend to each in turn.